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Special Collections
Brian Shetler, Drew University, Convener

MEMBERS PRESENT

• Brian Shetler, Drew University, Convener
• Cindy Aalders, Regent College
• Chris Anderson, Yale University
• Carisse Berryhill, Abilene Christian University
• Jenny de Klerk, Regent College
• Liz Leahy, Azusa Pacific University
• Patrick Milas, New Brunswick Theological Seminary
• Peggy O’Kane, Lancaster Theological Seminary
• Steve Perisho, Seattle Pacific University
• Elizabeth Peters, Yale University
• Armin Siedlecki, Emory University
• Daniel Smith, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
• Margie Wallace, Athenaeum of Ohio-Mount St. Mary’s Seminary

MEETING

The Special Collections Interest Group met online via Zoom as part 
of Atla Annual 2020 on Thursday, June 25, 2020 from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. 
Central time. The meeting was convened by Brian Shetler, Drew 
University.

AGENDA

1) Approval of 2019 Meeting Minutes
2) Announcement/Discussion Regarding Convenor of SCIG
3) Group Discussion of Special Collections in the Time of COVID 
4) Institutional Reports
5) New Business

a) Discussion of plans for 2021 Atla Annual (including excur-
sion)



22  A NNUA L Y E A RBOOK

APPROVAL OF 2019 MINUTES

Brief introductions were made. The minutes of the 2019 meeting of 
the Special Collections Interest Group were then approved with no 
changes.

UPDATE ON GROUP CONVENER

Due to the COVID pandemic and uncertainty about this year’s Atla 
Annual, Brian Shetler (Drew University) decided to continue to serve 
as convener for this year. This seemed like the best way to move 
forward for this year and to maintain consistency in convenership, 
rather than having someone new rotate in during the pandemic. At 
last year’s meeting, Cindy Aalders (Regent College) was nominated 
to take over the convener role for this year. Cindy agreed to move 
her term to next year when things will return to an in-person meet-
ing format. This decision was supported by the group and we thank 
Cindy for her flexibility and willingness to serve as convener in 2021. 
Brian mentioned that part of the role of the convener is to set up 
the SCIG excursion in our host city each year; this year’s excursion 
was going to take place at the Detroit Public Library with their state 
history archival collections. With the conference moving online, this 
excursion could not happen. A brief discussion ensued about next 
year’s Atla conference location (Ft. Worth, TX). Cindy and Brian will 
work together to plan the excursion for next year.

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS IN THE TIME OF COVID

The group discussed how moving to a virtual environment has 
changed their work in special collections. Brian (Drew University) 
mentioned that they saw an increase in the number of class inter-
actions once the university moved to online teaching; this was due, 
in part, to the fact that faculty members were looking for ways to 
engage their students online other than just straight lectures on 
Zoom. Cindy (Regent College) discussed having to make new rare 
book purchases from home and how they are now housed “off-site” 
in her house. Jen (Regent College) mentioned that the summer and 
fall courses, which will all be online, may provide opportunities 
for classroom presentations. She is working with professors to do 
some virtual presentations and has seen some good responses to her 
queries. Carisse (Abilene Christian University) mentioned that they 



Interest Group Meetings  23

have one staff member who has been able to go into the library regu-
larly and is able to get a good amount of work done since the library 
is not fully open. Carisse is also using this working-from-home oppor-
tunity to clear out some older material and go through backlogs; one 
of her colleagues will be going on maternity leave soon and Carisse 
will be taking on some of her duties, including social media. Brian 
pointed out that social media platforms seem to be more active and 
engaging during this time, and this is reflected in increased follow-
ers and comments on Instagram in particular. Chris (Yale Univer-
sity) discussed the role of social media at Yale Divinity Library and 
its overall increase in usage across the board. He also discussed how 
COVID has changed his focus to working from home and doing a lot 
of clean-up work online (website, catalog, and finding aids). Eliza-
beth (Yale University) discussed specifically how she is cleaning up 
the online finding aids, editing and updating them to meet modern 
archival standards and adjusting for readability and accuracy. A 
student worker at Yale is editing finding aids that have Chinese place 
names and adding in more accurate names. Chris mentioned that 
Elizabeth has recently completed a lengthy finding aid (425 pp.) for 
a large collection related to the World Student Christian Federation.

INSTITUTIONAL REPORTS

Emory University
Emory is getting a new university president in August. The library 
has been closed since March and will be closed for the foreseeable 
future; a few staff members are able to go in but most have been 
home since March. The annual Reformation Day will be held virtu-
ally this year. While it is disappointing that it cannot be in person, 
the online version presents an opportunity for a larger audience to 
attend virtually. Exhibit hall is closed, but they are at work convert-
ing an in-person physical exhibit on religion and science to an online 
exhibit, which should launch in the fall.

New Brunswick Theological Seminary
The library was shut down fairly quickly in March. They have been 
using existing images/digitized items for classes online. They have a 
digital services librarian who goes into the library to take pictures/
scans of items for social media and online class use. Courses for the 
summer and fall will be online. Russell Gasero, archivist for the 



24  A NNUA L Y E A RBOOK

Reformed Church, is retiring soon after 42 years in the position, leav-
ing big shoes to fill. The library is renaming the reading room after an 
African American graduate of the seminary in honor of a new direc-
tion for the seminary and as an acknowledgement of racial justice.

Azusa Pacific University
The campus closed in early March. One of Liz’s colleagues has been 
working on-site from the library since then, but the rest of the 
campus is closed. Special Collections is working on a large Tolkien-
Lewis collection that was acquired about a year ago, with two cata-
logers working full-time from home to catalog all of the materials. 
A planned exhibit for the fall (on the Salvation Army) will probably 
need to be altered in case people cannot access it in person. Teaching 
in the fall is being planned both online and face-to-face. The library 
received a grant to help incorporate the sciences into library work 
and curriculum. There is a lot of change in the university adminis-
tration, including interviews for a new provost and the need for a 
new library director.

Abilene Christian University
A new dean (James Wiser) is coming into the library to start in early 
August. Only the head of Special Collections will be working on-site 
for the foreseeable future, with Carisse working from home.

Regent College
Still actively collecting/purchasing material thanks to a generous 
donor to the Puritan Project. Cindy and Jen are working together to 
photograph and post material on Instagram. Discussions are under-
way for doing online exhibits (replacing the in-person ones). The 
library should be opening up to staff soon, and so will allow people 
to work with material in-person again. There is a digitization proj-
ect already underway, and these will be made available through 
OCLC shortly. Regent is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year; a 
large homecoming celebration was scheduled for this year but has 
been delayed until next year. The library has been actively collect-
ing materials for archives and special collections that tie into the 
founding of the college. Seven or eight years ago, Regent purchased 
an enormous pamphlet collection owned by Samuel Wilberforce. 
These thousands of items are being cataloged from home by library 
staff during quarantine.



Interest Group Meetings  25

Seattle Pacific University
Last fall, they did a special collections exhibit for a faculty retreat 
on spiritual practices. Steve found a few items that they were able 
to purchase for the exhibit and to add to the special collections hold-
ings. For the first time, a church history class came into the library 
for a visit and display of materials both in-person and, after COVID 
hit, in a digital format online.

Drew University
Discussed working with classes in multiple different formats 
(in-person, online synchronous, and asynchronous) in the upcom-
ing semester.

Liz asked about doing online exhibits and the programs/software 
used. Carisse mentioned using WordPress to create virtual exhibits 
with scanned/digitized material that corresponds with all physi-
cal exhibits that are put up on site. Steve does similar work with 
LibGuides, creating exhibits for classes to use remotely. Brian 
mentioned using Omeka as an online exhibit platform, both for 
creating online versions of physical exhibits and solely online exhib-
its. Drew has a new hire in Instructional Technology who has helped 
them to expand the look and feel of their Omeka exhibits. Chris and 
Elizabeth discussed their online exhibits done through Omeka at Yale. 
Peggy discussed the use of Omeka as a site for online transcription, 
which proved very popular and successful as a transcription setting. 
Jen asked about timing, how often online exhibits are produced and 
put up; Brian and Carisse talked about how they create online exhib-
its every 3–4 months as a tie-in to the physical exhibitions that are 
on display.

NEW BUSINESS

Brian mentioned that we will be in Ft. Worth for Atla Annual in 2021. 
He and Cindy will work on the Special Collections Interest Group 
excursion as part of the conference. In the meantime, he asked that 
others in the group think about other ways to bring special collec-
tions to the Atla conference (through presentations, projects, etc.).



26  A NNUA L Y E A RBOOK

2019–20 GROUP: [pictured, left to right] Chris Anderson, Brian Shetler, Steve 
Perisho, Cindy Aalders, Peggy O’Kane, Carisse Berryhill, Jenny-Lyn de Klerk, 
Elizabeth Peters, Daniel Smith, Liz Leahy, Patrick Milas


